Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj of Selangor is allegedly unhappy that children in the country are being exploited by irresponsible people out to further their own causes.

Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar today said that before Sultan Sharafuddin left for an overseas trip two days ago, the two men had a meeting in which the sultan had urged Khalid to take stern action against those who exploited children into taking part in certain activities.

sultan selangor sharafuddin idris shah 210508 "The sultan told me he was really disappointed that some irresponsible quarters had recently used children to legitimise their struggles," said Khalid, without referring to anyone in particular.

"He also instructed me to take stern action against these people and we will do so according to the law," Khalid told a press conference in Subang Jaya this morning.

He also criticised the Bar Council for condemning police personnel who had acted against Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) participants throughout their ‘Ride for change’ campaign.

"As a respectful legal professional body, they are practising double standard as they are faulting the police force for taking action. They should instead be upholding the law," said Khalid.

He said this in response to a Bar Council statement issued two days ago, that it was "appalled at the harassment and intimidation from the police directed at the Jerit participants".

Jerit went through a controversial 16-day nationwide cycling campaign to highlight the plight of the people.

jerit ride for change 091208 Throughout the campaign, 111 participants had faced arrests, including 28 under-aged participants who were held in the Rawang police station for one night.

Khalid had justified the police’s move in holding the children, saying that they were just " saving the under-aged from being exploited".

Jerit, however, had accused him of lying , claiming that the children had received parental consent prior to taking part in the campaign.

Parental consent 'immaterial'

Stressing that the children were indeed exploited during the campaign, Khalid said parental consent was "immaterial".

"The (campaign) organisers should educate the children to love the country and respect the law, not go against it," he said.

He also refuted claims that the police had tortured the under-aged children when they were detained.

"We never tortured the children. These people (the campaign organisers) were the ones who had tortured the children by making them cycle from north to south. Isn’t that called torture as well?"